


To Become An Angel (You Have To Die First)

by DeyaAmaya



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Angst, Blood and Injury, Happy Ending, Injury, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21742255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeyaAmaya/pseuds/DeyaAmaya
Summary: "What's that?" Nicky's voice wavers. "Andrew, what's that- the thing under-"Andrew looks the way Nicky's pointing, and his first thought is-corpse.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 26
Kudos: 338
Collections: AFTG Exchange, AFTG Exchange Winter 2019





	To Become An Angel (You Have To Die First)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ihaveacleverfandomurl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihaveacleverfandomurl/gifts).



> My aftg exchange assignment said:  
> They would like to receive content about Kandreil or offshoot pairings of it & Renison!. Their prompts are Good Omens fusion??, any kind of magic au, fox shapeshifter au, fashion model au, fake dating, enemies to friends to lovers. They do not want to receive Hard nope on incest, not comfy with Riko being redeemable if he's present lol. NSFW is okay.
> 
> I picked Andreil and magic AU. Hope it's magic enough for you, foxy-exy! The basic plot idea was borrowed from Tolstoy.
> 
> Tons of gratitude for Cate, doctorpaene and Iamafairytale for helping with the edit!

**Prologue**

Between the blinding pulses of pain, Andrew's battered senses pick up a couple of irregularities. One, there's a sweet, nearly cloying floral scent engulfing him and, two, there are gentle fingers carding through his hair.

_ Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? _

The thought disappoints Andrew. He can't be dead. Someone has to take care of Aaron, make him go clean, make sure he studies hard.

_ Baby brother. _

Andrew hurts.

There's fragrant breath on his face, and then-

_ Don't worry. I'll get you back to your baby brother. _

Andrew is confused, but he has his manners.  _ Thank you. Are you my guardian angel? _

Laughter chimes in his ears and he is given a name, a name that echoes in his mind as he wakes up in a whitewashed hospital room. A name that stays with him for years. 

_ \-------------------- _

**Flowers for (?)**

_ It goes like this. _

Ice crunches under his boots. His fingers are freezing even inside the gloves and the pockets. The air feels like knives as it cuts down his airway. Andrew hates being cold. He hates being cold when he's sick. He hates being cold and sick and yet he's outside in a blizzard, to rescue his idiot cousin's ass from a date that went wrong. 

Nicky trails behind him, dejected and sniffling. Andrew has absolutely no sympathy for him.  _ Why can't you be patient, _ he wants to demand.  _ Why isn’t Erik enough for you?  _

But it isn’t his place, is it? After all, he's the reason Nicky's stuck here, helping out with the understaffed flower shop in miserable little Palmetto and not in Berlin with his lover. It's best if Andrew just stays quiet. 

It's Christmas Eve, but thanks to the blizzard the whole town is dark and quiet, everyone waiting with bated breath for the end of this miserable weather. 

"It's taking so long," Nicky whines. The blizzard makes them slow, that's why. Andrew would be a little scared of losing his way if he was anyone else. Home is near. Through the whipping wind and snow he can just make out the old museum, then the big tree that marked the town centre. Home is just-

"What's that?" Nicky's voice wavers. "Andrew, what's that- the thing under-"

Andrew looks the way Nicky's pointing, and his first thought is  _ corpse _ .

Certainly, there's a small lump resting at the snow-covered root of the tree. Unmoving. Andrew can just make out the bloodstained snow around it.  _ Poor thing.  _

It's best to leave, deposit Nicky in the house where it’s warm and safe and then come back in the morning to check the situation properly. 

_ But it goes like this. _

"Stay back," Andrew tells Nicky as he takes a step towards the tree, then another, and another. 

The body belongs to a boy. Naked, lying on his side. His back is a mangled mess, source of most of the blood he's lying on. 

His eyes are open.

Andrew keeps his face unmoving even as his heart threatens to jump out of his throat. The eyes track his movement, his chest barely moving. His pale eyes are devoid of despair, terror or panic. If anything, he seems a little relieved at his imminent death.

"What happened to you?" Andrew can't help but ask. He kneels and reaches for the boy. The boy smiles with a mouth full of blood.

"I fell."

He loses consciousness almost as soon as Andrew manages to hoist him up on Nicky's shoulders. They get him home right before the blizzard becomes impossible to walk in. 

"Too much blood loss," Aaron grumbles as he stitches up the gashes up the boy's back. "He's gonna die anyway. You should've left him." 

Nicky gasps in outrage. Aaron gets into an argument. Andrew wishes he could crack open a window to have a cigarette. 

\----------------

The storm rages on for three days. The boy stays unconscious.

The storm lets up on a Friday morning. Nicky leaves Palmetto on an errand. Aaron leaves to meet his lover.

"Take him to the hospital," he tells Andrew. "I've done all I could." There are dark circles under his eyes, remnants of nights spent caring for a patient. Andrew feels a rush of pride. Aaron's gonna be such a good doctor someday. 

Andrew opens up the shop on the ground floor of his home and takes stock. He orders new flowers. People will soon be looking for roses to celebrate the new year. When he goes back upstairs for lunch, he finds the boy sitting up on the windowsill. He smiles at Andrew.

In hindsight, Andrew should've known that was the moment all his troubles started.

\--------------

\- Hows he?

\- Insisting that he's FINE

-????? Hospital?

\- he says no health insurance

\- shit

\-----------------

Neil. The boy's name is Neil, and he's a liar. Worse, he's an unapologetic liar. Every time Nicky asks him a question he comes up with a bizarre answer. Yes, he fell from the tree. No, wait, he fell from the Eiffel Tower and the wind carried him to Palmetto. The scars on his back are from a bear, no - a tiger, or a shark. His parents are German, or are they Irish? They could be from Texas, he can't remember. After a day with him, Nicky is close to tears, Aaron is red with anger and Andrew is so sick of this shit.

He laughs when Aaron grumbles while changing his bandages. "Andrew should've left you to freeze."

"Maybe that would've been best," the redhead snaps. "I wouldn’t have to see your ugly mug first thing in the morning." 

"Are you really calling Andrew ugly? You ungrateful sod!"

"I called you ugly," Neil says. "I said nothing about Andy!"

And those. Nicknames. He never calls anyone by the name they prefer. He's always trilling about Nixie-pixie, or the Douchebag Doctor, Andy or worse -  _ grumpy _ .

In retaliation, Andrew has him doing menial chores around his shop. Neil whines for the whole fifteen minutes while Andrew is upstairs making lunch for the two of them. When he comes back, the shop is spotless and Neil is sprawled on the floor, humming and making a garland from crushed flowers.

"Alright, who helped you?" Andrew asks. "You obviously didn’t do all that work by yourself." 

By all accounts, Neil should be in bed still. He certainly shouldn’t have the strength to mop and wipe the shop, no matter how small it is. 

"The mice and the birds," Neil answers with a straight face. "Don't you know? My name's Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel's the one with stupid long hair. Who raised you, Neil?" Andrew drawls, not missing how the boy's smile wavers a little. 

"Are you saying you want me to grow my hair out?" He shakes the red mess that reaches down to the middle of his back."Really Andy, stop flirting with me!" 

Andrew makes him mop the floor again.

\--------------------

Nights are different at Palmetto. 

The dark seems to grow claws and teeth, the temperature plummets, and every noise grates on Andrew's nerves. So naturally, that's when Neil starts crying. 

Every night, like clockwork, Andrew wakes up to the sound of it. He's letting the boy sleep on his worn-out couch, and there's a very sturdy door between his bedroom and the living room. Despite the insulation and despite Neil crying into a pillow, Andrew can hear him loud and clear. It has happened every night, the whole week. Whenever Andrew tries to ask him about it, the next morning, Neil expertly changes the topic or gives an outrageous lie that makes Andrew stalk away to cool off.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s better to just ask him right away.

His eyes adapt to darkness easily, spotting Neil huddled at one corner of the couch, watching him. Goosebumps break out across Andrew's skin.  _ Those goddamn eyes...  _

"Tell me," he demands, stopping in front of the couch. It's a dirty trick - looming over Neil, blocking light. Not that Neil is the least bit intimidated.

"Why should I?" he demands. 

_ Oh, maybe because I saved you from death by blood loss and hypothermia and am letting you freeload?  _ But Andrew, for the life of him, cannot say it. The thought feels so cheap in his head.

"A truth for a truth," he offers _.  _ After a few seconds, Neil inclines his head a little. 

Andrew makes himself comfortable on the carpet beside the couch while Neil recovers from whatever dream or memories plagued him. After a few minutes, Neil slides down to sit in front of him. 

"Do you know the feeling when you miss someone but don't want to see them ever again?" he asks, eyes glinting.

Andrew stares at him, mind full of memories of Cass, and nods.

Neil hums. "Well, for me… I miss a place, but I don’t want to go back there ever again."

"But you have to go back," Andrew guesses.

"Sooner or later," Neil agrees. 

It's not a surprise. Andrew knew the boy wasn’t here to stay. He's too full of lies and nervous energy to stay put anywhere for long. This way, Andrew wouldn’t make the mistake of hoping he would stay.

"Can I ask?"

Andrew makes a go-ahead motion at him.

"Why did you save me? What if I was a rapist, a serial killer? A burglar? You're letting me sleep under your roof, feeding me, clothing me. What if I harm you or your-"

Andrew stops him with his palm over his mouth. Neil is hyperventilating, his fingers balled up tight. Andrew knows what a panic attack looks like. His hand slides down to Neil's neck and pushes his head down, instructing him to breathe. It takes long minutes before Neil sucks in a normal breath. 

"What if I was the rapist, the murderer?"

"You're not," Neil's voice is barely there.

"What if I was, though?"

"You would've hurt me, killed me already if you were. You've had enough chances," Neil concedes. Bingo, Andrew thinks.

"You've had enough chances as well." 

\--------------------

Andrew owns the only flower shop in miles, and he gets orders for everything from birthdays to funerals. Nicky does all the deliveries, Aaron helps when he's not swamped with studies. Customers usually just order online and that's fine with Andrew. He's terrible at customer care.

The only one who comes into the shop with any regularity is Renee, every Sunday for a bunch of pink and white carnations. Andrew should've remembered that, but he didn’t. He watches as Neil freezes on his perch atop the counter, arms falling limp on the wreath he's making. Renee smiles at Neil quizzically, which makes blood drain from his face. In a blink, he climbs off and runs upstairs. 

Renee watches him go, smile evolving into a slight frown. "Who was that?"

"A rabbit," Andrew says. "Why did he act as if he knew you?"

"No idea," she says, and Andrew believes her. "What's his name?"

"Neil," Andrew tells her. And, at her prompting, tells her everything else.

"I'm proud of you, Andrew," she makes sure to tell him before she leaves, and Andrew's a hundred per cent sure that she's going to gossip to everyone in the town. 

Sure enough, by afternoon Andrew's been visited by almost everyone he knows. 

Neil has recovered enough from the surprise in the morning and allows Dan and Matt to coo over him without a complaint. Wymack and Abby come over with the excuse of ordering flowers for their anniversary, and Neil agrees to contact Abby if he's feeling sick later. Allison takes one look at him and starts to plan his outfits loudly. Even Seth comes in for a peek in the afternoon. 

Andrew is sick of reiterating the same story about finding Neil half a dozen times. He wishes he could lie as well as Neil and spin a new, outrageous story to each of them. 

The last one to visit is Kevin, and Neil's reaction to him is a lot like his reaction was to Renee, except this time Neil smiles. It's genuine, not overdosed with fake sweetness and cheer like the ones he distributes so freely. This one is true, and a little sad.

"Hello, Kevin," he says. His conversation with Kevin is stilted as if he's forgotten how to be boisterous. Kevin leaves after a while when it’s time to close the shop. Neil looks at Andrew, catches him looking and he smiles. Yet again a different smile, a lot bitter and a little sad. 

That night, Andrew doesn’t wait to be woken by Neil's crying. He sits on the couch and waits.

"Well?" Neil says with a hint of mischief like it’s some big inside joke they share.

"How do you know Kevin and Renee?"

Neil flinches a little. "I used to know them a… a long time ago. They don’t remember me, and I'd like to keep it that way." 

"Did you hurt them?" Andrew had to ask. 

"I was supposed to, but I didn’t."

Mafia kid, Andrew thinks. In their truth-for-a-truth game, Andrew has already discovered Neil has had a terrible childhood, terrible parents, and so many lies it’s a miracle he's a real human. 

The game has been a test of Andrew's patience. It's always been so hard to open himself up to others, and it’s nearly impossible to do so before someone like Neil, a complete stranger. 

But they're no longer strangers, are they? Andrew knows Neil, not through his truths, but also his lies. How he averts his eyes while talking about his mother, how he tends to have panic attacks while thinking of the place he ran from, how he absolutely hates the city's crows and ravens- Andrew notices. 

And if he's right, then Neil knows him a little, too. Neil makes him coffee that's just the right amount of sweet even though he himself does not go anywhere near the sugar pot. 

Such a small thing, but also not. 

\------------------

\- tell me neils measurements

-???

\- there's a sale

\- xs pants, s shirts, shoes same as mine

\- gotcha!

\- and nicky?

-ya????

\- no neon

\---------------------- 

Neil is very good at Ikebana.

Kevin teaches him, and it takes Neil a month to get better than his teacher. Andrew is scrambling to manage the increase in orders. Not just for flower arrangements, but for his regular orders as well. 

Andrew tries to pay Neil for his hard work. Neil glares at him and tells him to shove the money up where the sun doesn’t shine. Andrew buys a futon to replace the threadbare couch in his living room. Neil glares more, but with a lot less venom. 

\------------

Neil does things with the curious happiness of a newborn. He likes eating processed food and weird drinks like aloe-vera-with-cranberry juice and pocari sweat. He likes the outrageous crop-tops Allison gets him and wears eyeliner badly. He also doesn’t know his limits. 

The first time he goes out clubbing with Matt, it’s in a different city, and Andrew is enjoying having the house to himself. Or rather, tries to enjoy it. But it’s too quiet without Neil. As he goes through the motions of settling down for the night, Andrew's mind keeps circling back to the redhead, worrying. What if he's drunk and someone tries to rob him? What if he's roofied and someone takes advantage of him? What if Matt gets too drunk to drive? What if they crash? What if what if what if- 

  
  


There's a knock downstairs and Andrew stills. It's too early for them to come back, it’s not even midnight yet. But when Andrew opens the door Neil lurches inside and starts to climb the stairs on unsteady legs. Is he drunk? Is he drugged? 

"Where's Boyd?" Andrew manages to ask. 

There's no answer from Neil, who's slumped on the couch and taking a suspiciously long time to tug off his boots. Andrew kneels at his foot and helps him. Then wishes he hadn’t. Neil's socks are a mess. Inside, his feet are blistered and bloody.

"You walked? All this way? Did you even go inside the club?"

Neil is biting his lip as Andrew cleans his feet in warm water then binds them in gauze. "I don’t like so much noise," he says in a small voice. "I didn’t want to make Matt sad, so I left out of the toilet window. I hitchhiked for about half the way and then walked."

"You're the most stupid idiot I've ever known," Andrew tells him. He moves to sit beside Neil, who immediately curls closer to Andrew. Andrew runs his fingers through his sweat-soaked curls, thinking how much worse that could've been for Neil yet relieved to have him back home.

"I'm getting you a phone next month. You’re too much of a trouble magnet to go out without one."

\--------------

  
  


Andrew gives him a phone the next month, as well as a duplicate key to the store and the house. He also tells Matt off when he tries to complain about Neil leaving the club by himself. 

It's March now, and flowers are blooming in Andrew's backyard. Compared to the expensive roses and orchids in the store, these are just wildflowers, but Neil loves them. He's sitting in the middle of the overgrown plot of land making little bouquets while Kevin scolds him for wasting his talent on useless things. Knowing Neil though, he'll find a way to sell the wildflowers soon.

Renee clears her throat, and Andrew drags his eyes away from Neil's neck. Brown sugar freckles littering every inch of snow-white skin, a few strands of copper hair escaping the topknot, a light sheen of sweat. 

"What?" he demands gruffly, to cover up for the fact that he hasn’t heard a thing she's said the last few minutes. The amused light in Renee's eyes is very, very irritating. He turns his eyes towards the calculations and swiftly loses any good humour he's had.

"Maybe you could cut a few expenses?" Renee says, even though she knows that'll be futile. After paying for Aaron's school and Nicky's shots, after paying off Tilda's debts, he just won't have enough money left in his savings. 

"I'll start saving next year," he mutters. Renee places her fingers on top of his, offering comfort. He's been putting it off for years and this year, a large chunk of it went behind Neil, food and clothes and antibiotics. But Andrew can't bring himself to regret any of it.

\------------- 

  * _Baby brother,_



_ I cannot weave – _

_ slender Aphrodite  _

_ has overcome me _

_ with longing  _

_ for a boy _

  * go to sleep andrww fucks sake



  * n im not your baby brother were twins



  
  


\-------------------

"I need you to help me with something," Neil tells Andrew. He's visibly nervous, shuffling his feet and not meeting Andrew's eyes. 

"Now?" Andrew asks. He's in the middle of preparing a delivery, stuck in the middle of at least a hundred roses.

"Later is okay. Friday?" 

"Okay. Friday."

\--------------

Friday is peculiar, for lack of a better word. Neil collects a large unused garbage bag, shovels, and Kevin, who looks like he knows more about this expedition than Andrew. 

"If it’s a fake, I swear to god Neil-," he starts.

"Oh, shut up," Neil snaps, shaky with nerves. 

"I feel like we're about to go hide a dead body," Andrew deadpans. Neil laughs and then looks surprised at himself. Kevin glares.

What happened afterwards was even more bizarre. Andrew helps them dig a deep hole into the soil at Palmetto's Cemetery, hoping he won't be haunted by any of the spirits whose grave he's disturbing. Neil assures him that there aren’t any graves where they're digging. Kevin tries to turn it into a history rant, only stopping at the stink-eye Andrew gives him. 

Andrew is anticipating a dead body, but what Neil actually unearths isn’t so bad either. There are pieces of metal and terracotta that he throws away despite Kevin's protests, and he only gives his attention to a medium-sized ornate box. Kevin's eyes pop at seeing that. 

"This is Nathaniel's treasure," he breathes. "Why is it here? Shouldn’t it be buried under Nathaniel's tree?"

"This is where Nathaniel hid it," Neil tells him. "His father suspected it was hidden under the other tree, the one at the town centre," he informs Andrew. "He chained Nathaniel to that one and tortured him to death."

"Wasn’t Nathaniel the one who inherited a lot of money from his mother after she died and then hid them from his father?" Andrew thinks he's read that in the city library.

Neil nods. "Yep, that's the one. His father never did find the treasure."

Neil lets Kevin take the treasure somewhere, and a week later he flops down on the counter where Andrew's doing the calculations again. He slides a cheque to Andrew, whose breath stops at the outrageous amount written on the paper. Neil doesn’t wait for him to ask.

"Finder's fee for the Treasure," he says, happily swinging his legs like a child. "Now you don’t have to worry anymore."

The amount is enough for all the expenses Andrew has been trying to meet and still leaves some. But-

"Why don’t you take it?" Andrew suggests. "You can leave Palmetto and go anywhere. Didn’t you say you wanted to see the Himalaya? You can travel the world for years with this much money."

Neil's smile morphs and turns brittle. "Sick of me already, are you Andy?"

Andrew watches him, perplexed as to why such a suggestion upset Neil.

"Alright. Stay, if you want. This is just so much money."

Neil ignores him and instead takes up a piece of paper to make plans. Outrageous plans for the bit of money that'll be left after spending on school, shots and a new car. His ideas are to buy a whole candy shop, pay the mayor to paint the whole city purple, and to buy a bigger house so that Andrew, Aaron and Nicky can all live together. 

That last one hurts Andrew more than he's ready to admit. "Nicky can't stay here, Neil. He has to go back to Berlin, to his fiancé. And Aaron wants to leave Palmetto once he's a real doctor."

Neil's face falls at that. "Besides," Andrew continues. "I think you should spend some money too. Get into the Palmetto University, maybe? You're good at math." Andrew suggests helpfully. Only it makes Neil's shoulders bunch tighter. 

"Why do you keep suggesting I leave?" Neil snaps. There's hurt in his eyes. Without another word, he walks out of the shop, leaving Andrew to wonder what he said wrong.

\------------------

_ It ends like this _

  
  


It's been pouring for days, essentially cutting traffic in half. Andrew has a cold and is miserable. At one point, he'd relented and slumped sideways on the floor, placing his head on Neil's lap. After a frozen moment, Neil started running his hands through his hair and it feels heavenly. Andrew could spend the whole day like this. 

But an hour later a sleek red car stops in front of the flower shop. Recognizing it, Andrew stalks to the door with a pair of shears in his grip.

"Stay back," he tells Neil. "In fact, go upstairs." Not that Neil listens. The little bell over the door chimes as the visitor enters the shop. Andrew's posture loosens. It wasn’t Riko Moriyama, as he'd feared, but one of his lackeys, Jean Moreau. He notices the shears held loosely in Andrew's fist.

"Sensible," the Frenchman says. "But unnecessary. The Moriyama family merely needs a bouquet of flowers for the Master's birthday. Use the most expensive flowers you can find. And also," at this point, he looks at Neil. "Have it made by your new employee. Apparently, his arrangements are of acceptable quality - unlike yours." He sneers the last part at Andrew, who sneers back. 

Moreau leaves the shop after telling him the bouquet is needed tomorrow evening, and the payments would be transferred soon. 

Andrew's headache returns with a vengeance as he watches the car drive off. He goes to put away the shears and finds Neil still staring at the doors, eyes unfocused.

"You okay?" he asks, placing a gentle hand on Neil's arm, who startles.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Liar, Andrew thinks. "You heard the man. Start making that bouquet for Moriyama. Order whatever you want. They'll pay for it."

Neil nods, still a little preoccupied but goes to work immediately. Andrew goes upstairs to sleep off his cold. 

The next day is beautiful and sunny. Andrew wakes up without a clogged nose and in high spirits, but feels his blood curdle as he goes downstairs and sees the bouquet that Neil is just about finished with.

It's made of expensive white lilies, orchids and roses, wrapped in black paper and a wide white bow. The bouquet is gorgeous; Andrew's never seen anything so elegant. But it’s without a doubt a funeral bouquet. 

"Neil, Moreau said a birthday bouquet. Maybe you should add some colour?" he tries to suggest. 

Neil pauses in his work and looks up at Andrew. "They need a funeral bouquet, Andrew."

Andrew knows he hadn't heard wrong, yesterday. They definitely needed a birthday bouquet within a few hours. Why Neil has wasted hours and so many pricey flowers for a bouquet that would go to waste, Andrew has no clue. He's gathering up some cheerful red Dahlia when his phone rings. A toneless voice informs him of Riko Moriyama's suicide, early this morning. 

"We apologize for the trouble," the voice says. "But instead of a birthday bouquet, could you please deliver a funeral bouquet by this evening? We would pay double."

Andrew stands frozen for a long minute after the call ends. 

"I'm done!" Neil calls from the back of the shop. "I'll tell Nicky to deliver it to their house, yeah?" He doesn’t wait for the answer. Andrew can hear his conversation with Nicky, and then silence. 

Neil comes back, pocketing his phone and keys, gently tugging at Andrew's sleeve. 

"Come," he says softly. "I need to tell you something."

\---------------------------- 

The whole town is sombre, holding their breath for the funeral that's set to happen tomorrow. No one notices Neil and Andrew as they sit under Nathaniel's tree. 

"You can ask anything," Neil says. "I'll answer everything."

Andrew's mind is running a mile a minute. His tongue feels heavy.

"How do you know Renee?"

"I knew Natalie Shields," Neil says. Andrew shudders at the name. "She was supposed to die from the 33 stab wounds. I didn’t let her die."

"How do you know Kevin?"

"He was supposed to die the night Riko Moriyama broke his hand. I didn’t let him die."

"The treasure…"

"It’s mine," Neil doesn’t meet Andrew's eyes. "Only I knew its location."

Andrew feels like his head would explode. "When I was… After the car accident… you…"

"That was me too," Neil says. "I didn’t let you die."

Andrew closes his eyes. "What are you, an angel of death or something?"

"Something like that," Neil's voice is too light to be real. 

"And the bouquet?"

"I saw one of my, ah, brothers, behind the person who came to order. He told me it was Riko's time," Neil takes a deep breath. "And also mine." 

It takes Andrew a second to figure out what he means. 

"You're leaving?" he grips Neil's wrist tightly. "Why?"

"I was always going to leave, Andrew," Neil says, "It was a punishment for not taking lives when I should've. I thought it was supposed to show me that I was wrong but I wasn't, I wasn’t. You and Renee and Kevin are strong and happy and alive and I wasn’t wrong in saving you." As he speaks, the freckles covering Neil's skin start to glow, slowly gaining brilliance.

"I died and became immortal and now I want to throw it away just so I can be Neil for a lifetime, with you," Neil breathes. "Can I Andrew? Can I?"

"Yes, Neil. Stay, you have to stay."

"I have to go now," Neil says, eyes brimming with tears. "But I'll be back. I promise you, I'll come back, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew-"

One second, Andrew had Neil's hands in his. Next second he's gone, not leaving a single trace. 

\------------------- 

**Epilogue**

Grief is complicated, Andrew thinks. It hurts and never ends like a wave just comes and goes as it pleases. It makes him slow.

It's been a year since he'd met Neil. It's Christmas again and he's having second thoughts. 

His family watches with him as the workers put up a neon sign, replacing the old wooden one. The new one says  _ Flowers for Neil _ .

"Certainly less of a mouthful than Flowers for Nathaniel," Nicky says. 

"I don’t know, Nathaniel had a nice ring to it," Erik says. 

"He'd be flattered you named it after him," Aaron comments drily. 

"But people will still ask who Neil is. What're you gonna say?" Kevin says with a lot of worry between his brows.

"The same thing as before," Andrew says, voice scratchy from lack of use. "Someone who saved my life."

\------------------ 

Someone's at the door. Andrew's limbs freeze up. 

_ What if it’s him? _

_ What if it’s not? _

It's early morning and the air smells like, like-

Andrew takes a deep breath and pulls the door open. 

_ There you are. _

Brown sugar freckles on snow-white skin. Those goddamn eyes. Copper hair gathered in a messy topknot.

Andrew reaches out a hand and unravels Neil's hair, buries his nose in the handful of silk and just breathes. 

_ Flowers and sweetness and bright light. _

"It's cold out here, may I come in?" Neil says with laughter in his voice.

Come in, Andrew thinks, come into my life, come in for good. He opens the door wider.

"Yes."

\------------

_ fin _

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on tumblr! I'm andreil-minyasten


End file.
